As many as one million Americans currently live with Parkinson's disease with approximately 60,000 more Americans diagnosed each year, not including thousands more that likely go undetected. Parkinson's disease is often considered to be caused by a deficiency of dopamine in the basal ganglia circuit which leads to motor deficits. Although symptoms of Parkinson's disease are varied, one of the most affected motor characteristics is gait.
Festinating gait (also known as Parkinsonian gait) is characterized by a quickening and shortening of normal strides. Festinating gait can be disruptive for an individual diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and may interfere with the ability to work and engage in daily activities.
One common symptom in the advanced stages of the disease is referred to as Freezing of Gait (FOG). FOG is typically a transient episode that lasts less than a minute. During a FOG episode, gait halts with patients describing the situation as having his/her feet glued to the ground; when the patient overcomes the block, walking normally resumes.
Many Parkinson's patients use some form of wheeled walker (also known as a rolling walker or rollator) for mobility. Wheeled walkers may provide additional needed stability and are available in various configurations which can include: a seat rest, hand brake(s) and optional visual/audio cueing. During a FOG episode, an individual using a walker may encounter a situation where his/her feet are ‘glued’ to the floor but the walker continues to move forward slowly. The result is embarrassing and potentially dangerous situation in which the wheeled walker gets further and further away from the individual, at best ending up with the individual in a bent over position but helpless to do anything about it, or worse, resulting in a fall.